Need your thoughts on this program...

[countandduke]

http://www.usschoolofmusic.com (http://www.usschoolofmusic.com/)

It's basically an at home music course. I've looked at it several times over the years but might actually have the funds in the near future to actually do this. My step-son is 13 and this program might even be great for him. Even if I am the only one to go through the program, I would still have all the info. and what not so he could use the course literature too.

I have a pretty good handle on music and my chops are at least average or above so there's a part of me that thinks I could just learn all this stuff at home but I think there's something to be said for following a course with deadlines and all that. It's like I know what I need to do, but I very often think that it would have been fun to actually go to a music college and unfortunately, that's not an option at this point being a father and husband.

I think the course is actually priced pretty nicely. On-line Berklee courses are close to 1K anyways and the general cost of the US School of Music is around 10K so....

Okay, so thoughts...? Positive and negative are welcome.

Thanks,

Chris

PS I won't bash any negative comments but please keep them respectful. :)

[Austinrocks]

I will not bash the course, it probably is great, however I found it easier to buy instructional materials than it is to actually go through and learn something, I bought a lot of music training matterial, and its fun going around finding the stuff, actually working through is a different matter, a good book can take a year to go through completely and when your finished, if you every finish it, your rarely a better musician,

I finally took lessons when I was 40, studied jazz for 4 years, which was a stretch for me, always hated jazz, but my favorite guitar players are all jazz guitarist, oh well.

Getting under a teacher makes you learn the stuff you weak on, since a teacher who can see where you are and help you progress, and a teacher is someone who you work into your schedule, and they give you stuff to work on, so you develop skills you need to develop.

Another approach would be to get your step son under a teacher and the two of you can work through the lessons together, a good teacher should give your son the stuff that a course like this will give you, would help you and your step son have something in common.

[countandduke]

Well, like I said before, I would be a pretty advanced student and would probably test out of quite a bit of theory but this is making me think about the course in the aspect that my son would benefit from the theory courses and not so much me.

This may become an "I know what I need to do, and an online course isn't going to do that for me."

Chris

[Austinrocks]

when I started I had a very good background on theory, I read music as well, self taught on piano, however the areas that the teacher worked on was my rhythm, and aspects of playing, learned a lot from the lessons, even if I waited a long time, found out that being self taught just means you don't necessarily have a great teacher, no biggie on piano, but it really hurt me on guitar.

[spencerbk]

No disrespect intended - but that school seems really expensive to me (as does Berklee online, but at least I've heard of them and the name might carry some weight on a music resume, which doesn't sound like your goal anyway). Do you know any bona-fide success stories (happy former students, not necessarily famous ones) who can recommend the program?

For $10,000 you could get 100 face to face hour lessons with the best teacher in your area and pay $100 per hour ($100 is a pretty high end rate, and I live in Manhattan). Assume a lower rate and you could get years of lessons with a private teacher - maybe even two lessons a week from different teachers (one for theory, one for technique).

Anyway, I'd recommend pursuing private lessons with a good teacher - and trying lessons with different teachers until you find the best match - if you can afford this kind of investment.

That said, I'm sure a well-structured course and hard work can work for you if you want it to. Good luck.

[Austinrocks]

$100 an hour is pretty expensive for lessons, $25 for 1/2 hour, an hour lesson would be pretty brutial as well every week, so $1,200 a year, paid out over the year, getting the right teacher is important, had several after my first teacher left go to Oregon, and wandered around with some with some idiots, but they became pretty obvious after a lesson or two.

[countandduke]

I guess the main thing that I think this program might do for me, is force me into a structured deadlined course. I have TONS of books but never worked my way all the way through them. This kind of thing might really force me to complete my lesson assignments and what not.

Plus, I'd always have the material for students and future offspring.

I know it's a lot of money but...

I actually have 3 Dick Grove books that I should probably go through too...

Ahhhhh, I need the structure!! I graduated from the class of procrastination....

Chris

[Austinrocks]

sounds like your happy where you are as a player, spend the money on the course, it wont challenge you or make you better, it will just be something you need to finish one day,

not sure where are playing, I was playing pretty regularly with friends and getting really frustrated before taking lessons, if your just a bedroom player than stay happy and don't worry about improving, cause you really have no need to.